Tourism is getting an even more important sector in Turkey. According to TOPHOTELPROJECTS, the worldwide leading provider of global b2b hotel data, 53 new top hotels with a total of 9,400 rooms are in the pipeline. The investments are supported by the government through the allocation of public land for private hotel projects.

The Directorate-General of investments and businesses in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced a list of 44 plots at 22 locations in the mid of 2014. At these locations, new different tourism facilities (hotels, motels and holiday villages) are planned with a total capacity of 11,316 beds. The list also includes suggestions for recreational complexes, which could be used for day trips. One focus of the planned investments is hotels with attached spas that also offer treatments. In Yalova on the Marmara Sea, south of Istanbul, a spa hotel with 750 guest beds is arising. The investment will amount 77 million Turkish lira. In Bursa, about 200 kilometers southeast of Istanbul, the construction of two golf courses and spa hotels is provided, each with 420 beds. The total investment is estimated at more than 500 million euros.

Regardless of the state support, the interest in hotel projects remains high. Mid-2014 the head of the conglomerate Altinbas Holding, Vakkas Altinbas, announced that his company wants to invest at least US$100 million dollars in a luxury hotel in northern Cyprus. The property will be close to Girne (Kyrenia). A final site selection has not yet been taken. Also the CVK Holding intends to invest in luxury hotels. By 2023, the group plans to open nine hotels. Primarily two new hotels will arise in Istanbul/Tophane and in the Aegean vacation destination of Bodrum.

The construction company Kavanlar Insaat built the Hampton by Hilton hotel in Kocaeli. It will open its doors in May 2015. The hotel will feature more than 207 rooms, four conference rooms and a fitness center. The hotel is part of a large building complex with a shopping center "Symbol Kocaeli" as well as the hospital "Medical Park". The cost of the entire complex, on an area of 188,420 square meters, amount to US$250 million.

The hotel investment’s focus is clearly on Istanbul: In the European Asian metropolis on the Bosporus 22 new top hotels with 4,700 rooms will arise. Four hotel projects will open under a Hilton brand. But also Sheraton (Starwood Hotels), Novotel (Accor), Mandarin Oriental, Fairmont and the German Steigenberger Hotel Group is investing in Istanbul.

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